Strikeouts: 223. Batting average: .473. Grade: 8.
That’s what phenom pitcher Coralia Savin has brought to the Hewlett varsity softball team since age 12 in seventh grade, immediately helping the Bulldogs go from the doghouse to a playoff contender.
“My goal is 100 strikeouts a year,” Savin — now 13 and beaming her outside fastball 52 miles per hour — told The Post.
“It’s an especially great feeling if they’re committed to college for softball. When I strike them out, it gives me more confidence.”
Savin’s stunning seventh-grade season in 2025 — she notched a cool 125 Ks — got Hewlett back into the postseason for the first time since 2018, a Conference 9 title and a mighty 14-2 record.
“She changed our entire trajectory within the span of the season,” manager Jonathon Welsh said, adding that he knew Savin was special from her first appearance at winter workouts.
“The future is bright for us, for sure.”
Although the squad fell short of a county championship, its massive improvement led to the Bulldogs leaping from Conference 9 to 4 in the offseason.
Savin’s contributions weren’t beginner’s luck, either, as she has left another 98 batters and counting feeling the breeze this season with an average of seven Ks per game.
“I knew by the end of this year I wanted to have 200-plus strikeouts, so that long-term goal kept me going,” Savin said.
Leading off
Playing ball has been in Savin’s DNA since she was a little girl playing Little League baseball before her dad, Mike, started a girls softball program in Hewlett.
While her skills quickly advanced as a tween, Savin expected her first year on varsity to be a daunting challenge both physically and mentally.
“I thought it was going to be really hard for me to become friends with the older girls. There were a lot of seniors. That’s like a six-year age gap,” Savin said.
“They were very welcoming, even the seniors that maybe lost a little bit of playing time. They were such good teammates to me.”
There have even been instances when older players have come to Savin for advice this season.
She’s the right person to go to, as Savin has her own experienced mentor on Long Island giving her proper insight on how to play elite, Hofstra infielder and Bellmore native Alanna Morse.
“I definitely saw right away that she reminded me a lot of myself when I was younger,” said Morse, who first met Savin during a Pride softball camp a few years ago.
“I could instantly tell that she took the game really seriously, and she was just so excited to learn and asked a lot of questions, and was ready to go every day.”
Morse kept mentoring Savin after camp ended and would come to her house to continue giving lessons and coaching.
“I saw that she really took softball seriously and wanted to bring her game to the next level,” Morse said.
“I definitely see her having college potential. … None of what she’s doing surprises me because her work ethic is so incredible.”
Huge changeup
The biggest thing Savin is working on now, with both her team and Morse, is the emotional side of softball and handling the pressure of success at such an early age.
Naturally, there have been occasions when the weight of the moment bore down on Savin, but that’s something Morse has helped her overcome.
“We sat down and had a talk, and I told her that she needs to believe in herself and take on all this pressure and just use it to fuel her game,” Morse said.
Savin’s growth in maturity between seventh and eighth grade stunned her skipper this spring.
“She came back fearless, and she came back on another level,” Welsh said.
“When she gives up a hit, she gets back into the circle, she tries to strike the next person out.”
As Savin continues her quest to get over 600 strikeouts in six years on varsity — improving her arsenal in the process — she’s putting opponents on notice to beware when the ace grabs a bat, too.
“It feels like a lot of times with other teams, it’s like, ‘Oh, just because you’re a pitcher, you’re not going to hit,’ or ‘she’s probably just a good pitcher,’ ” said Savin.
“I want to keep hitting the ball … and getting strikeouts.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
